


under this cradle-hood and coverlid

by someawkwardprose



Series: Gifts [5]
Category: Dishonored (Video Games)
Genre: Birthday, F/M, Family Fluff, Father-Daughter Relationship, Mute Corvo Attano, Pre-Canon, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:27:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25635796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/someawkwardprose/pseuds/someawkwardprose
Summary: He’s meant for taking lives, not bringing them into the world. He is meant toprotectthe Royal Family, not create members.
Relationships: Corvo Attano & Emily Kaldwin, Corvo Attano/Jessamine Kaldwin
Series: Gifts [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1087206
Comments: 10
Kudos: 56





	under this cradle-hood and coverlid

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ishouldwritethatdown](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ishouldwritethatdown/gifts).



> what's up I've only watched my fiance play 3 chaps of dh before we had to separate for a month, but I yoinked this straight from their brain and they demanded I post it. fuck you I didn't need another hyperfixation, and fuck you for living so far away :(
> 
> the name headcanon is R's, and they sent it when I was writing this as a surprise, which really shows why we are engaged I guess. 
> 
> beta'd by R, my giftee. title comes from W.B. Yeats' (sorry) poem "A Prayer for my Daughter"

He isn’t allowed into the birthing room. 

Of course he isn’t. The Royal Protector is at the door, guarding the Empress and her soon-to-come heir; there is no reason for him to be in there, holding her hand, brushing her hair away from her face. He’s meant for taking lives, not bringing them into the world. He is meant to  _ protect  _ the Royal Family, not create members. 

It doesn’t stop him from straining his ears, desperate to hear the first cries of the baby. 

Burrows and the rest of Jessamine’s advisors had long since retired - it had been hours since the Empress’ waters broke, and they had gotten tired of waiting. Now it was just him, Curnow, and a watchman he couldn’t remember the name of.

“Exciting, isn’t it?” Curnow says, and he tries not to give the man a dirty look. Curnow laughs anyway, companionably knocking his shoulder against Corvo’s, and he fights not to flinch. 

It’s rare for the Captain of the City Watch to do any actual guarding, but the man is settling into his new promotion uneasily, and it  _ is _ an occasion. And he  _ likes  _ Curnow, likes the fact that he doesn’t care about whether a man’s blood was blue or red, likes the way he went out of his way to learn how to communicate with Corvo, when his predecessor simply didn’t care about Corvo’s thoughts. Unfortunately, Corvo has used up the last of his patience when the midwife and Royal Physician ushered him out the room, and has nothing left for the good Captain.

“I’m hoping for a girl, myself,” Curnow continues, and his second-in-command’s head jerks up.

“Why, sir?” 

“I think the Empress has done a good job on the Isles, is all,” he says, and smiles at Corvo conspiratorially. “It needed a woman’s touch, I think.” 

Corvo doesn’t care about the baby’s gender, only that he hopes it’s hale and hearty. He knows better than anyone that everything can change. Instead, he simply knows that any child of Jessamine’s will be kind, and good-hearted, and smart beyond measure - just like their mother. 

Curnow and the other Watchman keep talking, but they don’t expect Corvo to contribute, and he wouldn’t even if he could, because he can hear Jessamine - 

_ “I can’t, please, I can’t,”  _ she sobs, and Corvo’s hands ball into fists without his consent. 

_ “It’s not long, Your Majesty, keep pushing,”  _ Solokov’s gravelly voice advises, and then the softer tones of the midwife, the words too low to make out. 

Curnow gives him a knowing look, and puts his hand on Corvo’s shoulder. “Women have been doing this for millennia. When my sister - well, Callista took hours to arrive. Her Majesty will be fine.” 

Corvo nods tersely, carefully not tensing under the touch. The only person who didn’t inspire that reaction was Jessamine, and Curnow seemed to have picked up on that - he didn’t appear to be taking it seriously, at least, letting Corvo go without a word.

“It’s true, sir,” the other Watchman pipes up, with an air of superiority, as if he wasn’t the same age as Corvo. “My missus took a full day, with our first. ‘Course, they get easier the more they have to squeeze out.” 

Corvo rolls his eyes. Women, he felt, put up with an awful lot, while men stood around talking about their wives doing things. 

Void, he just wanted to  _ help.  _

_ “One more push, milady,”  _ the voice of the midwife floats through the door.  _ “You can do it!”  _

Jessamine sobs, and then - 

The piercing cries of a newborn, muffled by the closed door, but still unmistakable. Corvo exhales, shakily.

_ “There we go, Your Majesty,”  _ Solokov says, and the rest was too quiet to make out. 

Corvo straightens, but the Watchman - he should really know his name, but he had other things on his mind - shook his head. “They’ve got all sorts of stuff, still. Afterbirth, and the like. My missus’ mother says us menfolk have to stay out of it until that’s all done.” 

“But, that’s quite a set of lungs on the little one,” Curnow says. “That’s good.” 

Corvo nods, and pretends that he doesn’t see the way the two Watchmen look at each other. He knows what people say, about him and Jessamine - they’re not  _ wrong _ , really, but they’re missing some pertinent information. 

But the baby is loud, and Corvo remembers something his mother had said to his sister, once, before she left.  _ The more noise they make, the better. You and your sister were both screamers. Both survivors.  _

He thinks he can hear Jessamine, too - complaining, but complaining meant she was alive. 

The door slams open, and the nameless Watchman jumps, but Corvo - and Curnow, because he was good at his job - simply stand to attention. Solokov grins back at them, and for once the brightness in his eyes seems less like madness. 

“It’s a girl!” he declares, and Corvo feels his knees go weak. 

_ Emily,  _ he thinks.  _ Jess decided on Emily.  _

Curnow smacks him on the back. “Told you,” he says cheerily.

Burrows would need to be fetched, and the rest of the advisors, but Corvo can’t even think about that, not when he can see Jessamine, tired and pale and beautiful - with the baby in her arms. 

“Go on,” Curnow nudges. “We can see to the advisors. There are two royals in need of protection in that room.” 

Corvo ignores the implications, because it isn’t as if they’re stupid, everyone knows how he feels about Jessamine. They’d made up their minds about the baby the second Jessamine announced the pregnancy. 

He steps into the room, and the midwife shoots him a distracted smile. He barely notices, as his eyes are for the Kaldwins, and the Kaldwins only. 

“Corvo,” Jessamine greets, her voice exhausted, joyful. “Nina, leave us. You too, Anton.” 

Solokov gives a short bow, and leaves; the midwife requires a little more persuasion, and Corvo stands awkwardly, staring at the bundle Jessamine holds. 

“I’ll be just outside,” the midwife says finally. “You must call me if  _ anything  _ changes, your majesty.” 

“Of course,” Jessamine says, waving her off. “Just a moment, please?” 

With a tut, she leaves, closing the door behind her. They are alone, finally.

“Corvo, come here,” Jessamine says - orders, really, but it’s gentle. What she is saying is  _ come see our daughter. _

_ Emily,  _ he spell-signs, and does as she bids, taking the seat by her bedside.

“Emily,” she agrees, and Corvo can’t tear his eyes away from his little girl. “You remember -” 

He nods, jerkily, distracted, holding his hands out, and she rolls her eyes, but smiles, carefully passing the bundle over.  _ Emily,  _ he mouths, trying it out - perhaps, on a different day, he might manage to say it. She’s so very small - he can almost hold her with one hand - and her eyes are closed, but he can already see Jessamine in her features. Her skin is pale, compared to him, and he knows it will raise even more eyebrows, but he doesn’t care. 

She’s his, regardless of what they had to do to get her. 

“Emily Drexel Lela Kaldwin,” Jessamine says, and his head snaps up. “She cannot bear the name Attano, but she will have her father’s name.” 

It had been years ago that he told her, he thinks, when Jessamine was still a child herself. When he was teaching her his words and language, carefully finger spelling his mother’s maiden name as he told her his story. He wants to kiss her.

Corvo looks at the babe in his arms, and thinks about how he will tell her all his stories. How she will know Serkonan, and the signs of Karnaca. How she will know how to speak, even when she cannot use her voice. 

_ I love you,  _ he wants to say.  _ I will always be your father, even if we can never acknowledge that. I will protect you with everything I have,  _ he wants to promise.  _ I will swear myself to the Void to keep you safe.  _

But he can’t say that, not with her in his arms, so he presses his lips to her forehead, breathes in her smell, and promises himself instead

**Author's Note:**

> yes corvo attano is trans yes he is autistic and yes he is brown no I do not take criticism (but i do take nice comments)


End file.
